Monthly Archives: February 2013

I hope you have all enjoyed these posts of the Grouper Education Program! The Grouper Moon Project has come to an end for the season. It has been a joy to be a part of this incredible project and to be able to work with excellent students such as yourselves, and to be able to work with an amazing group of professionals from REEF and the DOE. The following is a gallery of highlights and some “behind-the-scenes” photos. Take a look!!

Here we are at Cayman Prep playing a food web game illustrating the important role the Nassau plays in the coral reef ecosystem.

Dr. Scott Heppell getting ready to tag a fish!

Lucky was certainly one of the main highlights of the trip!

Dr. Brice and Ms. Redrup pose for a photo before heading out for a dive.

Year 4 students created paintings of Nassau Grouper utilizing a technique known as Pointillism.

The sunsets weren’t too shabby…

Students at Cayman Prep playing a game while learning about the grouper’s life cycle.

Year 4 students at Cayman Prep!!

Students from Spot Bay created a wonderful mural outside their classroom.

High school teacher Verity Redrup diving at the SPAG.

We saw many Jack’s at the aggregation site.

I got to dive at the SPAG!! Amazing!!

Heather and Sierra heading out to the Sea Keeper to check up on the grouper!

NOAA scientist Steve Gittings preparing for an evening dive.

James Gibb from the DOE.

Brice, Heather, and Christy getting ready for a dive.

Hydrophones were placed in several locations near the SPAG.

GOPRO cameras were used to help collect data.

Watching the Tarpon swim under the dock while waiting for the divers to return from the SPAG.

It has been a couple days since my last blog post and as I was thinking of what I would write about, I realized I haven’t shown you any video footage of the actual spawning!?! So, I asked the scientists for a montage of spawning bursts from the last two nights of spawning. It is pretty amazing! Take a look!

I got back to Seattle late last night after a long day of travel. Not surprisingly, it is cold and cloudy in here. I already miss Cayman! However, I heard from Dr. Christy Semmens earlier and she says that the aggregation site continued to be quite busy again last night!! They will be there for several more days observing and collecting data.

One of the new tools that was used during the project this year was a Pegasus Thruster. I remember watching old Jacques Cousteau films on PBS as a child and seeing them zoom around underwater with what was basically a propeller with handles. Well, this is a similar idea, however, it attaches to your air tank. I thought they were pretty cool. Watch Oregon State University’s Dr. Scott Heppell demonstrate: